To each their own

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam…  (Name that movie).  Alright, so I bet you’re wondering what that has to do with the price of tea in China.  I’ll be happy to tell you how, (DirecTV is playing a commercial with that line from Rango in it over and over and it’s stuck in my head).  A few weeks back my Bride and I went to a wedding of a friend of mine.  The invitations had cowboy boots and said to dress “wedding casual”.  Cool, no suit, just a tie.  Well… what I define as wedding casual and other people’s definition is slightly different.  My Bride told me I was going to be over dressed, but I told her I was still going to a wedding and I had to respect myself while I was there.  More on that in a minute.  I think a wedding should represent the couple getting married.  It’s their day, let them have the wedding they want.  If they don’t want the formalities in their wedding fine, take them all out.  Stand up there in a bathing suit smoking a cigarette, it’s your wedding, and your wedding photos.  I will not judge you for having the wedding of your dreams.  BUT judging and laughing are two totally different things right?  Before I go any further let me just say I enjoyed the wedding, it was perfect for the couple and all the friends and family just kept commenting on how it couldn’t have been a better fit for the bride and groom.  Again, I’m not judging, I’m just making commentary on this beautiful wedding.  With that out of the way, let the festivities begin!
The wedding was held on a local farm.  A very nice setting I might add.  The road leading in was lined on both sides by pecan trees just outside of a white post horse fence like you see in the movies.   In this fenced in field is where the wedding would be held.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of this, but I didn’t.  But I did get a picture of the Alter.  As we’re sitting waiting for everything to start I lean over to my bride and ask her if she’s Tom Arnold or the crew of “My Big Fat Redneck Wedding”.

And I got a picture of what is considered “wedding Casual” here.  Or basically as much college football attire you can pack on one body.  It was a gameday though... I was a little more than slightly over dressed in my khaki’s and tie.  (I'm also guilty because I purposely wore a navy and orange tie. War Eagle)

I also noticed that Granny got the seat of honor.

Something very fun about this wedding is that all the bridesmaids and the bride came in the back of a huge monster truck.

All the groomsmen had to help unload the bridesmaids.  How gentlemanly of them.

After unloading everyone the groomsmen, in their very crisp overalls, escorted the cowboy boot wearing bridesmaids down the aisle.

I wish I had a better picture of this, but the ring bearer carried the rings in the bed of  toy Ford truck instead of using a pillow.  How cool is that?

And no wedding is complete without the bride.  This might sound totally gay, but that is one beautiful dress she’s rocking.

Here’s the bride and groom at the alter.

And what wedding is complete without play Quad City DJ’s “C’Mon N’ Ride it”, or better known as the ride that train song,  as they walk back down the aisle after saying I do.

Have any of you guys had a fun wedding like this, or been to a wedding like this?  Again, not making fun of them, this was their day and they really seemed to enjoy everything about it.  It was very short, sweet and relaxed.  At the reception the groomsmen even took their shirts off from under their overalls.

Wednesday Randoms

I haven’t had too much happen lately that was blog worthy so I’m going to put my small thoughts together in a randomness blog.

Tip:  To save power and quickly dry your dishes if you’re around your dishwasher when it finishes the last cycle, open the door.  The quick flash of cool air mixing with the hot damp air in the washer will flash dry the dishes.

One of our cats has been having seizures and it’s so sad to watch.  We’ve taken her to vet and are awaiting the test results.  She’s gotten some shots that seem to be helping though.

I haven’t flown anywhere since my trip to Canada in January, and I kind of miss flying.

I remember when you used to have to have a perfect dollar for a vending machine to take it, now the vending machine will take any wadded up bill you
have.  You can even give some a 10 and it’ll give you change back.

Sometimes I don’t comment on peoples blogs because I don’t want them to think I’m stalking them or something.  I think I feel this way because I’m a guy and most other bloggers are women.  Does anyone get bothered that a guy keeps commenting on your blogs?

I might not be able to cook a lot of thing, but the things I do cook, I cook pretty darn well!

My bride and I are trying to get a jump on next years vacation by planning it now.  If it works out it’s going to be beyond awesome.

Today is the coldest day of the fall and my company is serving us ice cream…

We only took about 40 pictures on our last cruise, most of which are all of the same things.

I’ve submitted a request with my company to get an iPhone4s.  Fingers crossed it gets approved.

My bride thinks if I get the iPhone4s it will become hers and I’ll inherit her old iPhone4.

So that's it, my waste of time for the day that I don't really expect anyone to read.

Cozumel Mexico

Well hello everybody!  I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did.  I don’t want to brag about all the fun I had soaking up the rays from the Lido deck while on the open seas, taking mid-day naps just because I’m so relaxed it’s making me tired, or driving around the island of Cozumel Mexico in a Jeep with the top down.  Ok, I really do want to brag about that or else I wouldn’t have even mentioned it.  The bride and I had a wonderful 4 day cruise out of Mobile AL to Cozumel Mexico.  This was my first cruise out of my home state of Alabama, all my other cruises have been out of Florida.  I heard things this weekend that I never expected to hear on a cruise.  While going through the security check to get on the boat the man in front of us had the line held up.  After standing around bored for what seemed like forever, especially since I can see the boat right out the window to my left, I decided to start ease dropping the conversation to see what the holdup was.  Upon opening my ears this is what I hear, “Well I didn’t know I couldn’t bring my pliers!?”  Really?  You think if the boat breaks down they’re going to call on you to go down to the engine room with your pliers and get us rolling again?  Really?  Apparently this same guy thought Carnival was just going to let him walk onto their ship carrying 4 cases of Diet Pepsi, 2 bottles of wine, and a box full of assorted snacks?  Really?  Thanks for delaying me from getting onboard so I could enjoy my first of many hamburger buffets and endless Panini’s.  But also thanks for giving my bride and I a good laugh since it became a running theme to randomly say, “I didn’t know I couldn’t bring my pliers!?”  You know it’s bad when the cruise staff is making fun of Alabamians.  While on stage performers would say something totally redneck, followed by “Row Tide”.  All the classic Auburn/Alabama stereo types were in play as well.  Well dressed older man with docker shorts and boat shoes, Auburn fan, a man holding a bud light, smoking in the non-smoking section of the boat, wearing a ratty bathing suit, Alabama fan.  I don’t think I want to go on a cruise out of Alabama again because I realized that I cruise to get away from these people, not be trapped on a boat for days with them.  Thanks for Classing up the Boat and Cozumel Alabama, and Row Tide.  You guys have no idea how bad it was.  Thank God I was on a cruise and completely relaxed.
When we got to Cozumel my bride and I signed up for the “Go Jeep, Tequila and Beach Adventure”.  We really enjoyed this excursion.  In the description of the excursion it clearly said that all jeeps are stick shifts.  Apparently my bride and I were the only ones to read this part as most everyone else stood with their mouths open when our tour guide dropped that bomb.  Four people had to get into one Jeep so we had to find us some riding partners.  When they told us to find our jeeps I raised my hand and said, we have two and need two more.  These two sweet old ladies came running to me and asked, “Can you drive a stick?”  I said, “yes, I can”, so they hired me to be their driver.  Off we went, driving through downtown Cozumel was a treat, there doesn’t appear to be any lines in road, and mo-paders just seem to do whatever they want, including, but not limited to, putting helmets on mom and dad, but no helmet on little Olga who is either sandwiched between mom and dad, or sitting on the gas tank drinking a juice box.  *Yes we saw both of those situations.  Helmet law for adults = yes, helmet law for childrens = no.

Once out of downtown we hit the open roads!  That is until we stop at the Pee-Pee Station, complete with a urinating alligator painted on the sign.  We saddle back up in our jeeps and continue down the road to drink Tequila, that’s right, all the Tequila we want driver or no driver, belly up to the bar.  Since I was the driver and was being watched like a hawk by my passengers I didn’t partake in the sweet nectar of the Blue Agave plant.

Back on the road again we head to our final stop, the beach.  The water is beautiful beyond words, blue, warm, and crystal clear.  After a short hour and a half we go to jump back into the jeeps, only to be met by swarms of bees.  Apparently the local gang of bees was enjoying our “souvenir” Margarita cups.  Every jeep had dozens of bees in and around them.  We quickly pulled our “souvenir” cup out of the jeep and poured out the contents and washed the cup out.  I then stuck my leg into the jeep, started the jeep, and put it in neutral.  (Also engaging the emergency brake to prevent rolling.)  After letting the jeep run with the air on we noticed that most of the bees left so we hopped in and continued our journey.  After driving about 5 miles the jeep in front of us breaks down.  We have been instructed to just keep going, the guide in the back will handle such things.  So we pass them and leave them for dead.  Well a little while further down the road a caution light comes on in the dash of my jeep.  I have no idea what this light is about, I check the temp, it’s good, gas is good, jeep seems to be driving fine, not my jeep, not my problem.  We continue on to the drop off point with no apparent mechanical issues.  I’m driving along happy as can be, I want a jeep, and I want a stick shift, I forgot how much I enjoyed shifting gears.  All the while that light is still lit, and it’s still beeping at me, again, not my jeep, not my problem.  We roll back up to the starting point to return our jeeps, I park, shut off the engine, make sure the jeep is in first gear, reach to engage the emergency brake…  Oh, the emergency brake is already engaged…  Um, hey babe, grab our bags and lets walk away, smile and keep walking…  hahaha.  Well, at least I’m pretty sure I know what all the beeping was about.  Too bad that guy didn’t have his pliers to fix any issues we caused with the Jeep…

Sept 11th

I hadn't planned on making a pot for today.  Today is my first anniversary with my bride.  The church we got married in was only open for this day because no one seemed to want to get married on this day.  We viewed it as a way to bring the day back to the good.  Something positive on a day that is so sad and emotional.  On this day 10 years ago I was working second shift as a conference call operator.  I was still asleep when the first plane hit.  One of my roommates came and woke me up and told me something was happening and I needed to get up.  As we sat in our living room watching in shock I still knew I had to get to work.  Work was strange that day.  On this day came one lowest moments as an operator.  A call was put on my schedule to call 4 people and connect them to a conference.  the first three numbers were 212 area code.  I got ring no answers from all three.  I then dialed the last number.  On the last number I told the person that answered that I called the other three numbers and didn't get an answer.  He then asked me if I knew where those numbers went too.  I said 212 is New York, he said, these numbers go to the World Trade Center and then hung up on me.  I felt so low at that moment.  I don't know these people, I don't know if they lived or not.  I pray often that they did live and that the man I spoke too forgives me and understands that I was just doing my job.  After this I was moved to lead a call that was lines connected to a conference keeping communications up following the president.  Where he was, if he was on the ground, in the air, where he was heading.  It was interesting, but I couldn't wait to get back home and get this day over with.  I think of  this every year on this day.  I was hoping I could replace these memories with new memories of what I did leading up to marrying my bride, but they're burned into my mind.  I'm so happy to be celebrating my anniversary with my bride today, but sadden at what happened on this day 10 years ago.  My bride and I have decided that we will spend one of anniversaries in New York in remembrance of those that lost their lives on that day.

The Rentals

Here we are once again, me on my side of my blog writing, and you on your side of the blog reading.  I had a good weekend, I hope you guys did as well.  My parents came into town for their yearly vacation so my bride and I spent the whole weekend trying to entertain them.  I don’t know if they’re trying to pay me back from when I was kid and lived with them or what, but they sure have become needy and demanding.  We had to have constant entertainment for them, and they seemed to always be hungry.  No lie, my bride and I are in the kitchen cooking dinner and from the couch we hear, “I sure am hungry, we don’t eat as late you guys do.”  I’m cooking as fast as I can mom, I’m sure you don’t want to eat your chicken raw, I hear bad things can happen.  One morning I’m in the kitchen making breakfast, my parents walk in and proclaim that they’re ready for breakfast.  I tell them that we’ll be having cinnamon rolls and they are almost ready, so they decide to just have cake for breakfast.  Then when I pull the cinnamon rolls out of the oven, they say, well I wouldn’t have had cake if I knew you were making cinnamon rolls.  Really folks?  Was I really this bad and annoying?  It didn’t even stop with food, a picture was knocked off of a wall, we hear it hit the floor so my bride and I go to investigate thinking a cat has done something, what do we find? Our picture that used to be on the wall stacked on a bookshelf, I know our cats, they don’t stack.  It would have taken just as much time to hang the picture back on the nail.   I half expected them to give me the, “Are we there yet” when we went out Saturday!  The other times they have come to the house they came to help us move, do some yard work and meet my bride’s dad.  Apparently I’ve learned that when they come there needs to be tasks laid out for them to do or else they’re going to get bored!  Apparently they see my house as their house as well, because my dad got up from the table, turned on the weather channel and promptly feel asleep.  Welcome home dad, welcome home…
I really do love my parents, and I’m very thankful for everything they’ve given me, so don’t think I’m just off bashing my parents.  It was just to the point of being comical this weekend with the goings on that just weren’t expected from my parents.

Cha-Ching!

I hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I did.  Nothing special happened, I just didn’t have to work.  Well I guess I did have to work, just a different type of work, yard work.  A while back I had my old push mower die on me so I had to get a new one.  Well I didn’t really know what to do with my old dead mower so it just sat behind the shed letting the grass grow up around it.  (And yes I did do redneck fixes on it to keep it running as long as I could, but it finally just couldn’t take it anymore.)  Well, my bride has been on me for a while, I guess about 2 years, about getting rid of it. Since I was in the yard working yesterday it seemed like the perfect day to do something with the old mower.  I’ve heard rumors about people cashing in scrap metal for money so I thought there had to be some big bucks in this.  I tell my bride, we’re cashing in this old mower and some other scrap metal and we’re going to have ourselves a date night!  We load up our old rusted and holey fire pit, some random car parts that I’ve gotten out of the ditch from in front of our house, and the old mower.   I just know in my heart that I’ve got at least 40 dollars of metal in the bed of my truck.  I pull up to the scrap metal place beaming with pride and thoughts of big bucks.  I back up to the scale and we start unloading.  I’m watching the weight increase on the digital screen, 75, 90, 124 pounds!  JACKPOT!  We’re going to Western Sizzler tonight, put on your fancy blue jeans, and a shirt that doesn’t have a hole, we’re living the high life!  Aw man, I just can’t wait to have all these bills counted out into my hand.  I’m doing the old Cha-Ching fast food commercial dance in my head.  Now, my bride has stayed in the truck for all of this, and her window doesn’t roll down, if you remember from last week, so she has no idea what’s going on.  This is going to be the surprise of her life.  I walk inside the place to settle up my tab and end up having the biggest surprise of my life.  We went from Western Sizzler to sharing a Happy Meal at McDonald’s.  I walked away with a hole whopping $7.20, I spent more in gas driving to the place than I made.  Talk about a blow to your ego!  The ride up there was filled talking of ways to spend this money!  Now I have to get back in the truck and hand over a 5, two 1’s and two dimes?  Ouch, I’m never going to hear the end of this one.

There, I fixed it

As of May 2nd, I became the proud 100% owner of a 2005 F150.  That’s right the last payment was sent in and the truck is mine after 6 long years of making payments.  The last three May’s in a row something has happened to my truck that has cost us a lot of money.  With the last payment being made and the truck officially mine, I had a feeling that this May was going to be the worst May of all.  I was on pins and needles all month, and on June 1st I was happy to report that nothing happened to the truck!  Well Sunday August 7th, my luck ran out.  My lovely bride rolled down the passenger side window to talk to a friend, and as she rolled the window back up we heard a loud, CRACK followed by a POP.  My bride thought the window broke, but I knew what happened, because a few Mays ago the same thing happened to the driver’s side window.  The pulley system that rolls the window up and down snapped and so the window fell down inside the door.  The last time I had to get this fixed it cost me 360 bucks.  With my bride’s birthday coming up and our first anniversary looming , I really wasn’t too hip to dropping that kind of cash to fix a stinking window.  What to do, what to do…  I know I’ll get my redneck on!

I started this repair job off the right way, at Home Depot!  What redneck can’t fix their car with building supplies bought from the home depot?  I knew to fix the window properly I’d need two small C-Clamps and four rubber washers.

I didn’t take any pictures of me taking the door apart, so the next photo is of the C-clamp in place.  I raised the window to its shut position, I then positioned the C-clamp on the track right below the bottom of the window on the right side of the door.

One side down, now to the left side track.  This side proved to be a bit more difficult due to there being no space for my hand or clamp at the bottom of the window.  Again tapping my inner redneck I decide this is nothing that a scrap piece of trim and a coping saw couldn’t fix.

So I cut two pieces of the trim, one to be the stop for the window, and the other make a wedge to keep the stop in the track and in position.  Next I took my handy C-Clamp and clamped the trim in place.

Now for the fun of putting the door back together.  Because I’m left with this hot mess.

First I need to put the moisture barrier back in place.

With that done I bring the door panel back and take a look at it.

I snap the door pannel back in place after returning the hanging door handle to his home.

Then I need to hook the wires back to my electric door controls.

And snap them back into place.

Next the speaker needs to be put back into his hole, making sure I have clearance around one of my C-clamps. (Something I probably should have done before this step)

Lucky for me there was clearance, Clarance.  I Returned all the trim, and the job is complete.

So, there you go, if you have an F-150 that has the window break like this and don’t want to spend the money to get it properly fixed and you don’t like the look of ducktape on your car, follow these instructions and you’ll be good to go.  Other than the gallons of sweat I lost, the R rated words that were dropped and the skin and blood left inside my door it’s a pretty simple process.  Just don’t forget to put a sticker on the door that says “winder don’t work”.